Astronomy

Astronauts exploring the Moon will need all the help they can get, and scientists have spent lots of time and plenty of money coming up with different systems to do so. Two of the critical needs of any long-term lunar mission are food and oxygen, both of which are expensive to ship to the Moon from Earth. So, a research team from the Technical University of Munich spent some of their time analyzing the effectiveness of using local lunar resources to build a photobioreactor (PBR), the results of which were recently published in a paper in Acta Astronautica.

Many objects in the outer Solar System contain large amounts of water ice, leading to a thick icy shell surrounding an ocean of liquid water. This water behaves like lava on Earth, reshaping their surfaces through a process called cryovolcanism. To better understand this process, researchers have created a low-pressure chamber that simulates the near-vacuum conditions on the surfaces of worlds like Europa and Enceladus. They could watch water create features we see across the Solar System.

Sometimes the easiest way to understand the physics of a phenomenon is to make a physical model of it. But how do you make a model of a system as large as, say, a protoplanetary disc? One technique, suggested in a recent paper in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and the University of Griefswald, would be familiar to any grade schooler who took a science class - spin water around in a circle really fast.

This image from the James Webb Space Telescope revisits one of the most iconic regions of the sky, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The result is a detailed view of thousands of distant galaxies, some dating back to the earliest periods of cosmic history.

Scientists have tapped into gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics to confirm the existence of a black hole with 36 billion solar masses.

A bold new proposal envisions launching laser-propelled nanocraft to a nearby black hole to test Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

China conducted takeoff and touchdown tests with its "Lanyue" moon lander on Aug. 6, 2025, as it prepares to launch a crewed lunar mission by 2030.

By measuring an 11-atom molecule with a stunningly powerful X-ray laser, researchers have seen the way its atoms make slight, synchronised movements, even when they should be standing still

By measuring an 11-atom molecule with a stunningly powerful X-ray laser, researchers have seen the way its atoms make slight, synchronised movements, even when they should be standing still

A single dose of the asthma medication zileuton stopped severe allergic reactions in mice by blocking food allergens from entering the bloodstream

A single dose of the asthma medication zileuton stopped severe allergic reactions in mice by blocking food allergens from entering the bloodstream

No, it's probably not the de-specialized edition, but Disney could surprise the 'Star Wars' faithful when the rerelease drops in theaters in 2027.

A galaxy billions of light years from Earth houses what may be the most massive black hole in the universe, equivalent to cramming the full mass of a small galaxy into a single object

A galaxy billions of light years from Earth houses what may be the most massive black hole in the universe, equivalent to cramming the full mass of a small galaxy into a single object

Four robots recently took to Mars-like terrain, including a cave system, during an epic experiment involving a NASA astronaut in space.

SpaceX has signed a deal with the Italian Space Agency to fly Italian experiments on the first commercial Starship missions to Mars.

Jupiter's four Galilean moons will line up in front of Jupiter in the early morning sky on Aug. 8.

Explore the wonders of the cosmos and save over $700 on this Unistellar eQuinox 2 bundle, including an official backpack for taking it to dark sky sites.

Direct images from the James Webb Space Telescope show what could be a Saturn-mass planet around Alpha Centauri.

The post Alpha Centauri Might Have a Planet, Webb Telescope Finds appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Hundreds of pieces of bone dating from 5700 years ago carry evidence of being processed and eaten by other humans, bolstering the idea that cannibalism was common in the Neolithic period